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Columbia Drug Dealer Takes Plea Deal, Minimal Jail Time
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 19, 2011
Modified Jul 19, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 19, 2011
Modified Jul 19, 2011
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Harrison David, one of the suspended Columbia students charged with dealing drugs from the school's frats, pled guilty to selling cocaine today. David was the only one of the five students arrested last December to be charged with dealing coke and as such faced the harshest penalties (the others have their own plea deals on the table). He will most "likely spend only 3 1/2 months of his sentence at Rikers Island as a result of time served and good behavior," according to his attorney.
David, 20, was busted for selling about $1,400 worth of cocaine and pot to undercover detectives out of his apartment last fall. He was the last of the "Operation Ivy League" dealers to make bail because his family in Massachusetts refused to help him out. "We believe that less incarceration time and the additional three years of monitoring will serve in the interest of justice," Assistant District Attorney William Novak told DNAinfo.
The five-month NYPD sting that broke the ring has already had a lasting impact on the Ivy League school. Earlier this year the school evicted the involved fraternities from the school's buildings.
What is next for David, beyond prison, remains up in the air. Columbia is expected to officially expel him in the near future. "He has huge regrets about it because now he's blown an Ivy League education," David's lawyer said before adding, "His family is extremely upset."
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